Kailansorac
Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.
Nicole
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Guillelmina
The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.
jkeith77-1
I really enjoyed Hoffman, Jenkins, Turturro, etc. at an individual level. I enjoyed the set detail, lighting, and mood created and really felt as if I were having a drink in a Devil's Pocket dive bar in the 80's.The movie as a whole and plot however, were completely forgettable. I was actually quite pleased to see "Old Lucy" knock that horrible, racist, knife wielding kid over the head with a pipe. It actually felt like justice as it could be argued the murder was in self- defense and involuntary at its worst.Regardless, from that point on, I could not connect with the plot of Jeanie Scarpato seeking justice. I could not connect with the overly contrived "feeling" that Jeanie had about her dirt bag son getting killed as if getting accidentally killed in an industrial yard is completely unbelievable?! Not too mention that the rest of the film felt disjointed, without purpose and lacking in realism.At the end of the movie, I felt A) glad it was over and B) disappointment that we won't see Hoffman's incredible talent for acting again.
ian
I've just watched this again a couple of years after my first viewing. This time I feel I must do the movie justice by writing a review.This is an absolute gem, almost poetical in its description of the working-class neighbourhood of God's Pocket. The film shows the events following a death and in that showing describes the lives of the people. Those lives are also examined by an outsider, an ageing and world-weary reporter, who is given to drinking too much and finds his libido drawing him too deeply into the world of which he is writing.At the heart of the story are Mickey and Jeanie Scarpato portrayed to perfection by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christina Hendricks. It is the death of their highly unpleasant son that sets the plot in motion which rolls inexorably towards its close taking in moments of tragedy, high comedy and pathos on its route.In sum a beautifully conceived and realized movie which among much else drives home to us all just how much the incredibly talented Philip Seymour Hoffman will be missed.
blanche-2
I'll say this. Philip Seymour Hoffman, in spite of dying way too young, he left us many, many films in which to appreciate his great talent."God's Pocket" from 2014 is one of Hoffman's last films. It's an independent film, done in a natural, realistic style, about blue collar workers in a small town, most of whom are uneducated and scratching out a living. Hoffman plays Mickey Scarpato, whose rotten human being of a stepson is killed but the witnesses on the scene lie to the police. His wife, played by the stunningly beautiful Christina Hendricks, is devastated. Mickey gambles away a lot of money and then finds out the funeral home won't take credit. So he puts the body in a refrigerated truck and attempts to sell it.That sounds funny, and normally I would love this kind of humor, but there's an atmosphere of depression that hangs over this film so that it's hard to find humor even when there is any. Meanwhile, the boy's mother (Hendricks) is demanding to know what really happened, and gets a newspaperman (Richard Jenkins) involved. He of course falls for her immediately.Bette Davis said that today people want acting to be natural, but that real acting is larger than life. I happen to agree - there's just not enough here to keep me interested.The cast is very good and includes John Turturro, Joyce van Patten, and Eddie Marsan. Hoffman is terrific as a desperate man who is trying to do the right thing for his wife but just can't get it together.The film is a little too dark visually for me but it fits the mood. Depressing, but a funny ending.
FreddyShoop
It's unfortunate that this is one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last serious movies, because his and the rest of the performances are pretty much dead on arrival and completely forgettable. He was much better in his other late film "A Most Wanted Man." (However, neither performance show the subtle and dynamic range he showed in The Master)The description of the plot in IMDb is a JOKE! If you see that plot in THIS movie, then you must be Superman...because you can see through everything.The folks who are talking about "character development" must be nuts. Most of the time we have no idea why anyone is actually doing anything, let alone do we see how the events in the movie change their characters.In retrospect, I wouldn't have bothered with this movie. This is the problem with actors becoming first time directors. Film is a director's medium, and Slattery isn't one (at least not yet).
